The New Milton Table Tennis Club’s annual internal tournaments get underway shortly after the completion of the Bournemouth & District league programme, culminating in the Club’s “Finals Night”. The 2012 tournaments kicked off with the Junior event at the Arnewood School on Tuesday 17th April, with the remaining tournaments (Under 40s Handicap, Vets Over 40s Handicap, Doubles, Handicap Singles & Open Singles) taking place at Mudeford Wood Community Centre on Monday nights.  The extremely well-supported Finals Night took place on Monday 11th June 2012 at Mudeford Wood Community Centre, with Club Secretary & Tournament Organiser Bev Scott-Johns commenting “This was the best Finals Night that I can remember since I have been a member of New Milton Table Tennis Club”.

This was the first time that the Finals Night had been recorded for posterity and Bev thanked club member Simon Golding (SGTV Productions Ltd) ably supported by Adam Phillips and Danny Willams for filming the event.  There were 4 events captured on film: Under 40s (Handicap), Over 40s (Handicap), Handicap Singles climaxing with the Open Singles Final.  The results of these were:-

Under 40s Handicap: Winner: Peter Daish, Runner-up: Zac Dowling

Over 40s Handicap: Winner: Steve Hemmings, Runner:up Julie Smillie

Handicap Singles: Winner: Phil Handy, Runner-up: Peter Daish

Open Singles: Winner: Phil Handy, Runner-up: Steve Hemmings

The finals not captured on film were:-

Juniors: Winner: Matthew Daish, Runner-up: Zac Dowling

Doubles: Winners: Bob Fagan & Ian Linney, Runners-up: Roy Hobbs & Dave Sutton

The trophies were handed out to all finalists at the Club’s AGM/Presentation Evening on Monday 16th July 2012.  Thanks go to Bev Scott-Johns who is an ETTA qualified Tournament Organiser, for yet another set of well-run tournaments.


Under 40s Handicap – Peter Daish v Zac Dowling 

Peter Daish had disposed of younger brother Matthew in their semi-final to reach the final against Bournemouth Sports’ Zac Dowling.  Peter playing off a handicap of +23 lost the first set against Zac (+17) by 27-31, but won the next two sets 31-24, 31-22 to claim the title.

Over 40s Handicap – Steve Hemmings v Julie Smillie 

Hemmings playing off +6 was defending his title against Julie Smillie who had a handicap of +13.  Julie gave a really good account of herself with some excellent attacking strokes, but found Hemmings’ stoic defence far too dogged for her.  Hemmings won in two straight sets 31-23, 31-29.

Handicap Singles – Phil Handy v Peter Daish

Phil Handy returned to table tennis after a long break away from the game, due to heavy musical studies in Birmingham.  Peter Daish was looking for his second title of the evening having already won the Under 40s Handicap.  It was a tall order for Phil playing off +4 against the ever improving Peter’s start of +23, but Phil took the first set 31-28.  Some of the rallies drew gasps of appreciation from the spectators as Peter played beyond his years to take the second set 31-24.  However, Phil regained concentration to win out 31-28 in the third and final set.

Open Singles – Phil Handy v Steve Hemmings 

This was the main event of the evening as Hemmings was looking to defend his title against Handy, who had already deprived his Premier team-mate of his Handicap Singles title by seeing Hemmings off in their semi-final.  Again there was some thrilling tennis, but Hemmings’  usually solid defence was mainly second best to Handy’s powerful forehand drives down both wings.  Handy won his second title of the evening as he beat Hemmings 11-6, 11-3, 11-5.

Credits

The recordings were kindly produced by Simon Golding from SGTV Productions Ltd.